Sacrifice : themes, theories, and controversies /
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| Author / Creator: | Kitts, Margo, 1952- author. |
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| Imprint: | Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2022. |
| Description: | 91 pages ; 18 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Cambridge elements. Elements in religion and violence Elements in religion and violence. |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12762862 |
| Summary: | After over a century of grand theorizing about the universal dimensions to the practice of ritual sacrifice, scholars now question the analytical utility of the notion writ large. The word 'sacrifice' (Latin sacrificium) itself frequently is broken down into its Latin roots, sacer, sacred, and facere, to do or to make - to do or to make sacred - which is a huge category and also vague. Presuming it is people and places that are made sacred, we must question the dynamics. Does sacrifice 'make sacred' by summoning the presence of gods or ancestors? By offering gifts to them? By dining with them? By restoring or establishing cosmic order? By atoning for personal or collective sins? By rectifying social disequilibrium through scapegoating? By inducing an existential epiphany about life and death? While this short Element cannot cover all complexities and practices, it does treat critically some prominent themes, theories, and controversies concerning sacrifice, from ancient to present times. |
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| Item Description: | Print on demand edition. |
| Physical Description: | 91 pages ; 18 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| ISBN: | 9781108995511 1108995519 9781108997041 |
